The Upcoming Luni-Solar Year

The end of the Full Dark is coming. The new Luni-Solar Year starts on Jan 16, of 2018. There's a weird thing to say huh? Use another calendar to explain when calendar starts. Oh well.

A closer look at the Wendigo

All monsters begin as something mundane. The fractal begins with simple rules, and then spirals out into something more, and sometimes, something much worse. The origins of the Giants are unknown to the Psychonauts, but the origins of the Wendigo are not. The Wendigo were once human.  

The Wendigo are what happens when the hunger of the Grey Locust is left wild and uncontained by the Locust King and the constraints that the Grey places upon the Hungry Empire in an attempt to maintain its cold order.   

The hunger drives them, and in the early stages they still seem human.  

The Stillborn  

From a distance, one might mistake the Stillborn for people. Up close, the mistake is unlikely. The Stillborn's skill has gone white and chalky, and clouds of dry skin cells explode around them with sudden movements. Their eyes have gone milky blue-white and the skin has tightened all across the face to give the eyes a sunken look. The Stillborn's hair has bleached to translucent silver and seems to defy gravity, floating about the skull like an unholy halo.   

The Stillborn still speak, but their language is unintelligible to any non-wendigo. They have their own culture and mythology, those none who understand it are able to transmit it back to those who still understand human speech. The path to hunger is nearly always a one way journey.   

The Hungry Ghost  

As the body is consumed by the hunger, the Stillborn go from emaciated to truly skeletal, with skin stretched so tightly of bone and sinew that they could be mistaken for desiccated corpses if they choose to remain still. The teeth sharpen and elongate and the eyes decompose completely in the head, replaced by cold blue lights. At this point, the Wendigo is known as a Hungry Ghost. The Hungry Ghost, like the Stillborn army, still physically eat. However, they no longer attempt to cook their food, and seem unable to digest it- as the food sits inside their huge distended bellies.   

The Ravener  

The final state of deterioration. The Wendigo's head is now a skull with glowing eyes, resembling nothing so much as the terrible love child of an elk and a bear. Carnivores teeth poke out of a herbivore's jaw. A predator's eyes sit uneasy in the skull of a prey animal. What skin remains is ragged and wispy and flutters in the slightest breeze. The Ravener is an animate skeleton that glows with a cold blue light. The body of the skeleton too is twisted, elongated and ape-like, but with the hooves of an ungulate, the ribcage and fore paws of a polar bear, and bizarre protrusions extending from the individual vertebra of the spinal column.      

The Recurrence of the Tower

Whether its the Tower of Retribution in Berserk or Kami's Watch Tower in Dragon Ball, The Tower of Babel in Ancient myth or the New Tower of Babel in the film Metropolis, The Dark Tower quoted in King Lear or the Dark Tower in the works of Stephen King; no matter the form of the story, epic tales grow towers like damp houses grow mold.

 

The Leviathan

The Fading Lake and the Drowned City are not deep bodies of water for the most part, but there are deep parts. And in those areas, sink holes and trenches, buried caverns formed of sunken bits of a long past golden; here the Leviathan makes its nest.

Most of the time, the Leviathan is content to remain hidden beneath the waves, feeding upon whatever has left the scars in its mutilated hide. Most of the time. Some of the time, the great giant sea monster explodes up to the surface and devours settlements on the Coast. Like the Behemoth, the Leviathan is singular. There is no more than one to bear the name. Unlike the Behemoth, the Leviathan is predatory, and those sentient beings that it devours it certainly does not devour by accident.

Unlike the Behemoth, there are not structures on the back of Leviathan that the Psychonauts might plunder. But when the Leviathan is active, the ancient underwater tunnels and structures where it normally sleeps are open for exploration by the bold and near suicidal. But psychonauts should be wary. The Leviathan got its scars somewhere.

The Behemoth

The largest Thing to walk upon the Wastelands; the Behemoth is, like the Leviathan and the Sentinel but unlike the Watchers and Trolls and Colossi, singular in existence. Psychonauts who have studied the Behemoth are uncertain whether the behemoth has always been singular or whether the great beast is the last of some monster species.

The Vast majority of the Behemoth's time is spent sleeping in the southern wastes. The Behemoth sleeps so long that dust will cover much of the giant's flanks and scrub grass and tumbleweeds will seed and take root. The Behemoth does not sleep long enough for cities to spring up, but upon each waking Psychonauts have observed a hut or ruined tower or two upon the back of the Giant. Because of their location, the story inevitably places things of great note or merit in these structures and brave Psychonauts will frequently attempt to climb the behemoth and explore the structures.

When the Behemeoth awakens, it feeds. The Behemoth is an omnivore, although seemingly by accident. The great giant lumbers across the landscape and grazing by devouring whole hillsides as it literally bites the tops of hills and mountaintops alike. It can devour whole camps or settlements this way, though most scholars agree that this is almost certainly accidental.

To the Scavenger Folk, the waking time of the Behemoth is a time of dangerous omens and ill portents, not the least of which because the Behemoth could simply decide to sit on a Scavenger Camp without noticing that it had done so.

The Question of the treaty

The tribes and clans of wild folk and the green peoples will nearly all speak of the treaty if question about law by a psychonaut. Any one of these folk or people may give the treaty and the Psychonaut's lack of adherence to it as a reason for not speaking with or assisting the psychonaut. A member of the treaty peoples might explain it briefly if pressed. Such an explanation would likely point out that the wild folk contains both predator and prey and that even those amongst the wild Folk who are prey themselves do in fact prey upon the green peoples. The treaty is the agreement whereby the tribes and clans of green peoples and wild folk might deal honorably with one another while still allowing room for natural predation. A fox will hunt a grouse. A goat will feed upon the bushes of many species. But despite this, through adherence to the treaty, goat folk may trade with fox folk and berry persons. The Psychonauts will naturally wonder; may they sign the treaty? And Yes, they may, if they have passed the initiation and endeared the rites of passage and earned the right to call themselves warriors under the Freepath. And foremost Psychonauts fresh to the foglands, is the primary goal.

A brief Snapshot of the Foglands

The Foglands is an eerie place for new arrivals to experience. The concrete hard sand dunes and broken rocky ground have been desaturated by some earlier tragedy and most of the landscape is the weird monochrome of a 1950s television broadcast. The sky, by contrast is a toxic looking bloody orange by day, and a deeper near opaque orange black at night- marked by a hallowe'en orange moon. The brackish lakes and inland seas are nearly all a rusty orange from the oxidizing metal and salt content of the water. Grey and Orange. Monochrome and and garish contrast. The visuals along are enough to make some new arrivals lose what lunch they brought with them for the incursion.

The Four have a discussion

Into the void a cold tenor voice rang out like, ice field splitting across the horizon, "This is the story of us."

A second, distinctly motherly voice wreathed in an echoing chorus interrupted "And them. Don't forget that."

A third wet voice that seemed to thrum rather than speak add, "She means you, the reader."

"They may be listeners." Added a voice that echoed like a sermon in a sunken cathedral.

"In any event," The first cold voice said, regaining control of the narrative, "This is the story of us, and how our story is your story."

The motherly voice continued, "This is the story of how we made you."

"And how you then returned the favor, " the third voice thrummed.

"And this is the story of paradox of those words is the key to understanding your importance to the story." The Cathedral voice added.

"Because the story is where we live," The motherly voice said.

"And where we will find ourselves once we die," The cold voice concluded.

"And where you find us now." The Cathedral voice added.

"I'm trying to set up the story," The Cold voice objected, "You are ruining the mood."

"I am explaining important information," The cathedral voice insisted.

"You're just going to confuse them," the motherly voice said.

"Then I'm doing my job," The Cathedral voice answered.

"May we get on with this, please?" The Cold voice said.

"Yes," Said the Motherly voice," Our readers may be growing bored."

"Our Listeners." The Cathedral voice.

"Our audience," The Cold Voice said, "And while we waste time, our audience is dying."

Shadows and Artifacts

Objects in the shadowlands are not stable. Things collected in one incursion will not be retained into the next incursion unless they are attuned to the psychonaut's avatar. Things that can be attuned include artifacts, spells, watchtower links, realm keys, sparks and such. Any normal bits and pieces found in the shadowlands will fade upon departure from the shadowlands.

Fading Lake Regional Locations: The Witch Hut

The Witch Hut

A traditionally Forboding hut sits on the edge of the Fading lake, standing on low stilts to appear to float in the water when the lake is high. A Witch is always present in the Witch Hut. Which one is present will vary, although the Witch will rarely be a named Archetype, and will rarely admit a definitive identity- least of all to a green Psychonaut not worth her (or more rarely his) time.

Playtesting the Foglands

My Intrepid band of Psychonauts have run our first play test of the foglands. Entering the fog lamps true the gate room in the ring, but without any activated watchtowers, they ended up at the altar Stone plinth.

There they encountered the Colossus Giant, and our three Psychonauts disagreed on whether or not one could communicate with a Colossus. Much Amusement was had, and no Psychonauts were harmed in the making of this joke. And certainly no Psychonauts were eaten by Giants.

Two Psychonauts went scurrying through junkyard tunnels aided by one of the wildfolk, an intelligent badger who gave his name as... ...badger. within the tunnels, they ran afoul of a giant Ghostly monstrosity which looks vaguely like a caterpillar built of human parts and wearing a small faceless mask; which they took with them after Escaping The Thing.

the third psychonaut not decided it was more productive to bait and taunt the Giants until by a series of improbable successes he ended up with a parachute and a corpse of another psychonaut riding one of the winged Watcher Giants to the temples and shrines surrounding the Screaming Stone.

The area around the screaming Stone was populated by the hungry and agitated troll Giants. Here the Psychonauts briefly reunited before the more adventurous psychonaut acted as a distraction to draw off the trolls well the other two Ren two and attuned to themselves to the Watchtower at the head of the Totem Wastes.

Their goal achieved, the distracting psychonaut used the mask taken earlier to drive away the trolls and the play test ended in Victory.

The Fisher King Spider, The Deep Water Spider, The Eye Spider

A Bright painted spider with an elongated abdomen and which sports, instead of a cephalothorax, a miniature carapace shaped like an eyeless human skull. Mandible protrude from the front of the thorac, where the skull would have teeth. And in place of a cranium, the carapace fascimile skull sports a human-like eye swivelling in a bizarre ball socket.

The Fisher King Spider is a creature like Falsenight, stolen from and built by the Locust King from a piece of an ancient Elder- one of the Three. In this case, a stolen eye from the Weaver.

Unlike other mythic creations of the False King, the Eye Spider is not a large monstrosity. The Spiders that form its temporal bodies in the Shadowlands are only slightly larger than a typical hunting spider, smaller than a tarantula or camel spider certainly. The Deep Water Spider is not any spider however, and creates many avatars in the Shadowlands- an army of quietly watching bodies.

The Eye Spider is paranoia and surveillance and the chilling effect that such surveillance has upon creativity in creating the story.

The Eye Spider makes webs out of stagnant or polluted water and travels along its webs and only along its webs. but it can allow the web to disperse and 'surf' along drops of water or within (or upon) any stagnant or polluted body of water- as these things are all implicitly its web as well.

The Eye Spider can cast a charged line of water to strike the skin of a denizen, and thereby influence what they see, changing their perception of the Shadowlands.

Due to the Deep Water Spider's movement limitations, it is at its most powerful in the Foglands and nearly as powerful in the Mirrored City, and virtually powerless in Arcadia and The Painted Labyrinth, and completely powerless in Hollow Heart.

Wastelands Regional Location: The Fading Lake

The Fading Lake

The Fading Lake is a brackish lake whose water line rises and falls with mysterious apparently non-tidal rhythms. The Fading Lake harbors secrets beneath the silty bottom, but Psychonauts will be hard pressed to explore those secrets without impressive preparations. Some experienced Psychonauts have claimed that beneath the silt is a half flooded temple from the time of the Mirrored City, whose machinery still runs. They further claim that the turning of these ancient clockworks is what causes the waters of the lake to rise or fall. Other experienced Psychonauts who have sought to prove or disprove this claim have failed to return to the Foglands for later incursions.

Wastelands Region Location: The Haypenny Camp

The Haypenny Camp

The chief competitor to the Salt Market, the Haypenny camp is cleaner and tidier, but also smaller and less well stocked that its more famous Plateau based competition. The Haypenny camp is also nearly half settlement if one looks purely at the number of tents, and sacred hospitality is practised in both the Open Market and the Old Camp. The people of the Haypenny Camp are not free peoples, but no Stillborn Army or Hungry Empire either. They sit in between, balancing on the blade of rusted straight razor, trying to survive on the business provided chiefly by newly arrived Psychonauts.

The genre savvy Psychonaut will quickly realize that the Open Market operates as the starter shop and the Old Camp functions as the first hub village for Psychonauts making incursions into the Foglands.

Wastelands Region: The Womb

The Womb

A collection of natural limestone caves twist beneath the the heart of the wastelands. Expanded by unknown denizens, stalagmites sculpted into strange humanoid forms and new passage way added and small corridors expanded to accomodate foot traffic. In some places, unknown visitors have placed altars and shrines and statues of sacred beings, and time has allowed the limestone to partially encase them in stalagmites and sometimes full limestone columns. The Womb is now a dangerous set of labyrinths used by many denizens as a place to conduct rites of passage and ritual vision quests. Bioluminescent fungi and airborne spores dimly light different areas of the caves with strange iridescent raninbow lights. But beyond the light lurk monsters, including the occasional chimera- suggesting a link between the Womb and the Painted Labyrinth.

Altar Stone Regional Locations: The Screaming Stone

The Screaming Stone

To the East of the Altar Stone Plinth is Screaming Stone. One of three truly enormous humanoid statues (the other two being the Weeping Stone and the Thinking Stone), The Screaming Stone looms above the landscape and stands over three times as large as the largest Giant. The Three Great Stones are hollow structures, though still impossibly heavy and monolithic. Psychonauts could disappear into one of the Great Stones and wander for months, and that's before they discover the vast tunnels underneath each stone monster. The open maw of the Screaming Stone is a massive viewing platform, from which one can view the landscape for miles in any direction and which is a good place to get an early glimpse of the Plateau.

Altar Stone Regional Locations: The Altar Stone Plinth

The Altar Stone Plinth

Psychonauts who find the first gate key will inevitably end up in region of the Altar Stone Plinth upon their first use of the Foglands Gate. The Plint itself is a massive stone, carved as though to be a base to hold some larger statue or vase. The Plinth is as large as a human temple, and the top shows scraping and wearing that is visible on to those tall enough to see the top or brave enough to scale a structure considered sacred to the Giants. What, if anything previously sat upon the plinth is unknown, but the Giants are entirely too willing to place dead psychonauts there as offerings or leave live Psychonauts there- presumably to die of exposure (although their actual motive is a mystery).

Around the Plinth are a collection of stone barrows and dolmen built from large standing stone placed by the giants and then modified by smaller denizens into burial grounds and holy places, hiding holes and ad hoc housing. Psychonauts will find many secrets in these structures and many denizens- friendly, neutral and hostile.

After much exploration, Psychonauts have discovered that a series of more impressive Dolmen, which are connected by a series of underground corridors, are associated with key stars in the Northern night sky. Interestingly, the sub locations in the Step Pyramid region have similar references to key stars in the Southern night sky.

Wastelands Locations: The Altar Stone Region

The Altar Stone

The area of the Wasteland known collectively as the Altar Stone or Altar Stones is a collection of statues and standing stones that radiate out from a central point. The area is apparently sacred to the Giants, as Psychonauts who journey there will find that the area always has a few such visitors. The Giants will prostrate themselves before the enormous humanoid statues, and will leave offerings. Psychonauts should be wary near the Altar Stones, as the Giants visiting the stones are more animated than normal and an unwary Psychonaut may find themselves beaten to death against a rock and then gently placed before one of the stones as an offering from some devout Giant.

Speculation on the relationship between the Giants and the Stones has gone on for as long as both have been known to exist. Some scholars speculate that the humanoid apeparing statues are in fact dead or hibernating Giants. Other vocies have suggested that these are simply altars to whatever gods the Giants worship. Experienced Psychonauts have noted that first time visitors to the Foglands always find themselves deposited in the region of the Altar Stones, and have suggested that the Giant might revere the area itself as a bringer of food. The suggestion being that the giants subsequently built the Altar Stones around the region where unready and easily captured meals appeared with satisfying regularity. Whatever the reason, the Giants aren't telling and certainly aren't going away.

The Altar Stone region is filled with secret rooms and hidden tunnels and labyrinths. Experienced Psychonauts do incursions to explore the Altar Stones frequently. For first time visitors to the Foglands, the Altar Stones are a dangerous place filled with practically unkillable very hungry Giants and ancient death traps that stubbornly refuse to rust or malfunction. The area is confusing and maze-like, with huge stones and statues forming twisting labyrinthine tunnels and troughs in the landscape that the psychonauts must navigate carefully to escape with their limbs intact.

A very very Short and Thoroughly Incomplete List of Locations in Arcadia

• The Village
• The Cematary
• The Lake
• The Mountain
• The Forest
• The Plains
• The Coastline

An Abridged list of Locations in the Mirrored City

The City

• The Ward of Gildguld
• The Ward of Mitchuas
• The Ward of Gaibrus
• The Ward of Zeudin Vashas
• The Ward of Lamris
• The Ward of Friedites
• The Ward of Valstaris
• The Ward of Xerfer

The Lef River

• The Northern Waters of Gongin
• The Southern Waters of Lamlex
  

The Frontier Lands

• The Mountain Stronghold
• The Frozen Plains
• The Windswept Plains
• Strongiron Village
• The Living Forest
• The Second Forest

A Brief and Incomplete list of Locations in the Ring

The Threshold

The Lotus Garden

• Village Region
• Graveyard Region
• Lake Shrine Region
• Dark Mountain Region
• Bone Forest Region
• Great Plains Region
• Coastal Seas Region
• Bridge to Stellar House
• Bridge to Void House
• Bridge to Gate Room
• Bridge to the Threshold

Void House

Stellar House

The Gate Room

• The Front Room
• The Back Room

Brief Overiew of Location in Hidden Heart

The Dual Core Chambers

• The Chamber of the Survivors
• The Chamber of the Scavengers

The Three Wings

• The Glass Wing
• The Emerald Wing
• The Dust Wing

The Four Corners

• The Table Corner
• The Dark Corner
• The Scorched Corner
• The Salt Corner

The Five Terminals

• The Serpent Terminal
• The Mystery Terminal
• The Bridge Terminal
• The Ancient Terminal
• The Alliance Terminal

Brief List of Location in the Painted Labyrinth

The Shrines of the Three

• The Firebird Temple
• Weaver Cave
• The Spiral Tower

The Meeting Places

• The Amphitheatre
• The Globe Sepulchre
• The Bazaar
• The Council Stronghold
• The Alliance Gate
• The Witch House

Precursor Ruins

• The Beetle
• The Twin Collosi
• Dikinesh Canyon
• The Altar of the Elder Brothers
• The Grave of the Corn Lady

The Pillars

• The Great Western Pillar
• The Great Eastern Pillar

The Bridges

• The Hummingbird Bridge
• The Butterfly Bridge

Campaign Grounds

• Barren Island
• Hunting Grounds
• Tenfold Manor
• Damacles Graveyard Throne
• Daemon Temple
• The Short Tower
• The Keystone Cave
• The Solar Moon Henge
• The Place of Slaughter
• The Fern Forest
• Cavern Lake of Discord

A More Thorough List of Ribcage Locations

• The Ribcage Castle
• The Ribcage Castle
• The Keep
• The West Wall
• The Western Tower
• The East Wall
• The Eastern Tower
• Babylon City
• Babylon Square
• The Crimson Monument
• The Crimson Wall
• The Ivory Wall
• The Empty Quarter
• The Empty Fountain
• The Hollow Shrine
• The Silver Wall
• The Gilded Wall
• The Dead Forest
• The Broken Gates
• The Iron Gallows
• The Empty Archway
• The Gates of Sorrow
• The Hanging Archway

Expanded Location list for The Drowned City

• The Grave of Brine
• The Drowned City
• The Crimson Tower
• The Ivory Tower
• The Silver Tower
• The Bridge to Heaven
• The Bridge to Hell
• The Gilded House West
• The Gilded House East
• The Circle of Rust
• The Neon Oracle
• The Asylum
• The Reception House
•   The House of Eights
• The Salt Market
• The Burning Lands
• Reactor Number One
• Reactor Number Two
• Reactor Number Four
• The Last Daytower
• Jawbone Ridge
•  Incisor Earthwork
• The Canine Cairn
• Molar Runestone

Odd Monologue to follow

Odd monologue time with apologies in advance.

My mind is a dark and scary place. I've said this many times. Most people shrug it off. They know I wouldn't kick a stray dog or ignore a friend in need. And so they assume I'm joking.

What I mean is that for as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to look at the elephants in the room. Somewhere along the line I noticed loose threads in the modern accepted ideology. And I began to pick at them. About 19 years ago roughly, I began discovering really uncomfortable facts that undermine the modern illusion.

And I couldn't look away.

None of this is tinfoil hat stuff, although I inevitably waded through that as well. If you start looking at the fringes of acceptability you will have to dig through David Icke and Infowars, Ayn Rand and Deepak Chopra, Young Earth creationist propaganda and anti-vaxx dogma. And I've read most of that rubbish, even been convinced by it temporarily on occasion. But that isn't what I'm talking about. Most of the truly disturbing and terrifying stuff that I read now comes from anthropology text books and history professors, geology reports and political science papers. What terrifies me is publicly available and almost never discussed in public.

And I get it. I understand the desire to look away. I understand why the religious right so quickly leans on the 'end of days' argument as they refuse to look. It's the same effect generated by subjecting a test subject to random shocks over which they have  no control. Eventually they stop reacting. I get it.

And so I keep quiet about the thoughts I think.  and I know right now some of you were calling bullshit. "Ryan, you don't keep quiet about anything!"

But I do.

I limit what I talk about, as much as possible, to things that people are comfortable discussing. To topics of conversation where lines are clearly drawn, and people don't get uncomfortable thinking outside preordained borders. That sounds a little pretentious,  a little condescending as I write it down. Okay, a lot. It's not meant to. I am not saying that people ought to think as I do, because it gives me no peace. I understand why people avoid the subjects upon which I choose to think, and if I could choose to do so I think I would. But I can't. I can't look away.

I understand why few people choose to occupy this same space with me, and I don't begrudge anyone that decision. But I am lonely. This shit is a heavy load to carry. And yes, obviously I chose this. It didn't really feel like a choice. It felt like those points in an old video game where you are asked if you're up for the challenge and the choices are: 'yes', 'of course', and 'definitely'.

I'm not 100% certain why I'm bothering to write or post this. I hope I'm not subconsciously fishing for sympathy, although one can never be sure. I've convinced myself thus far through the writing of this little rant that I'm just trying to get it off my chest. Maybe that's true and maybe it's not. But I guess my chest is empty now, so I guess I'll stop.

A First Look at the Dead Gods of the Mirrored CIty

When a god accumulates enough power from offerings and worship they may build themselves a seat of power, a sacred throne which both amplifies their power and serves as a vessel for that power. When the Locust King began to build the capital of his Hungry Empire, he sent his forces to hunt down appropriate gods and steal their thrones for the Hungry Empire. The City of Glass is built around these thrones, now bonded to the wards of the city. The gods from whom the thrones were stolen are now shadows of their former glory. Publically lauded as official Gods of the state, they are little more than propaganda puppets; trapped in the stones and steel of the cityscape, whispering prophecy and begging for offerings in exchange for favors.

• Gildguld, God of Tax Collectors
• Mitchuas, The Son of Ash
• Gaibrus, The Birdgod of the Dawn
• Zeudin Vashas, The Six Faced Lord of Thunder
• Lamris, The God of Obedience and the Underworld
• Friedites, The Goddess of Sin and Purity
• Valstaris, The Goddess of Love and War
• Xerfer, The Goddess of Jealousy and Greed

The Path of the Grey

The Path of the Grey through Myth and Culture

The Grey begins its time in any new Shadowlands as nothing more than whisper of being. Fear of disorder. A desire for control. A flash of red or a reflective shine to the eyes of those who listen to the Grey as it whispers- first in their dreams and then during waking hours. The Grey prefers the dark and the cold. The grey prefers high altitudes and thin air and open spaces. And in these spaces one can hear the Grey more clearly.

And as one's story spins darkly out control, as impending doom approaches due to impersonal forces beyond one's control; then the Grey can sense one's mind and make its offer.

Grey Aliens

Assuming a physical form is possible for the Grey even in its weakest stages of development in this world. In its embryonic form, the Grey appears not unlike a Grey Alien: smooth grey skin, with an over sized head not unlike a Mayan Mummy. The eyes are black upon first inspection, but prove an impossible deep red if light its the eyes at the correct angle. The Grey will move itself as though gravity did not affect it, and without moving any of its body- levitating in total stillness with not limbs moving. Even as it grows in strength, the Grey will still assume this form in many dealings. It appears fond of the form.

The Grinning Man

A horrible precursor to the arrival of the Grey's more powerful Forms. The way will be paved for the Grey by a series of strange homunculi called the Grinning Men. They appear almost human, but their faces have no eyes, merely skin sunken into empty sockets with rictus grins cause by mouths with no lips. The Grinning Men speak without moving or opening their mouths, directly into the minds of the listeners without fail. They dress in anachronistic though formal clothing, ten or twenty years out of date. They do not walk, rather they simply appear in a different location when one blinks or looks away.

They act as evangelical ministers, spreading the word to those willing to hear the Grey's message. They offer warnings of impending real danger. They make promises of safety and good will. And they will insist that they "breath and eat and bleed as men do".

As people begin to listen to their warnings, and people will, despite their terrifying visage; the Grinning Men will begin to speak of a coming danger. And they will offer solace and safety through allegiance to their Elder: The Grey.

The Mothman

The Grey, like most elders, can assume an approximation of a human form once it has sufficient strength. Said form is a tall thin grey figure with reflective grey eyes. The Face looks like a strange mixture of insect and owl-like features- although without features or chitin. The avian/insect hybrid features are cast upon pallid grey skin stretched across a skull which appears overly large and elongated like a classic alien or a preserved Mayan mummy. The Grey wears a grey leather or skin cloak or overcoat which appears to merge with the body of the figure. The Interior of the coat is colored brown and umber and dusty ochre, in patterns which strongly suggest the wings of a moth. Sometimes, the figure will have hands separate from the cloak, sometimes the hands and arms will merge with the cloak. The cloak will move and spread like wings if the figure moves into the air.

The Grey makes sounds, but they are out of sync with it's movements. If it speaks, the mandibles in it's mouth will move after the words have been heard. The sounds of beating wings or scratching claws will come before or after the movements that should produce said sounds.

Ancient Astronauts theory

Stories have power, and the Grey and its homunculi will tell stories claiming credit for human advances int he Bonelands. They will claim increasing influence of the events depicted in recorded history. For as stories are retold, so does history change. As people come to revere the Grey, so does it's power grow. It devours the histories of other cultures and other gods to make itself strong. It will start with rumors and whispers, to make people talk about it. Then it will transform that talk into reverence. Then it will transform that reverence into religious fervor. And finally it will anchor that religious fervor with fear. And it will use that fear to institute control. And through control of the stories told, the Grey makes itself into the Elders and Gods and Demons and Spirits from other older stories. It travels back in time through the minds of those who believe its stories and remakes the history that they know.

And the world that these people live in becomes one where the Grey was always the one true God, and all other supernatural beings which survive in the cultural discourse are demons or evil spirits. The world becomes the story which people tell, and being born of fear becomes a god who rules through fear.

The Grey in more Depth

Fear is inescapable. Fear is inevitable. Heroes use fear as their sword and shield, as their drive and fuel. But some use fear as a cage within which they capture everyone, including themselves. In the hopes of total control, the Grey inspires the Locust King to cage and devour the world.

The Grey is a kidnapped infant demiurge. The grey as a reverse alien abduction. 'God' as an accidental prisoner from another story. Always an outsider to the story they infect. The Grey is an infant old one dragged into each new shadowland as an embodied hypersigil thoughtform by the desperate magick of the Locust and the Lion. The child godhead has been driven mad by fear and sensory overload in the new world. He is pain and fear and simple morality and id urges. Because demons and gods live in stories, the bootstrap Paradox is a viable option. The Lion and the Locust are faced with a Wendigo invasion. Wendigo are caused by the Locust touch and thus the Grey, but the paradox can eliminated if the Locust and Lion make the right choice in this retelling.

The Grey Locust/King and the Grey always start as Dead Gods from somebody else's story. They infect new stories. Pulled in when somebody else invokes and embodies their story as a means of power and/or survival. The Grey is anti life. It seeks silence and stillness and order. It seeks to make the world still . Because it is afraid. It is a being from the dark Era of the universe... when entropy has made everything uniform and dark and still. It can't handle the chaos and messiness of the Stellaferrous Era. And so it seeks to enforce order. It is a creature from the end of all stories. It does not understand middles.

Thus the Grey is not evil. The Grey is applying a morality that does not function in this story. It is not evil. It is alien. It is applying tools not appropriate to this world.

Some locations of the Southwestern Foglands

The Hart Stones

Venturing to the west in the Lowlands, psychonauts will enter the Skylines. And at the head of the great expanse of the Skylines, psychonauts will inevitably stumble upon the Hart Stones. A collection tall patterned stone menhirs which point travelers in the direction of City of Sleep to the south and the Skylines themselves to the west.

The Western Ruins

Past the skylines, carved into the earth across the great tractless lands, stand the Western Ruins. A series of monuments survive, but any metropolis associated with those monuments are all that remains.

The Broken Statues

The first of the ancient landmarks that the path marked by the Hart Stones that a traveler will find is the Broken Statues. This pair of enormous hollow statues are not in good repair, but psychonauts and scavengers can still dig around in the gigantic structures and risk the ire of the vermin that call the cracked colossi home. 

The Broke Stones

Two circles of massive standing stone stand just south of the Broken Ruins. As large as two men high, the stones are mostly still standing, although several have settled at angles or fallen entirely. On the Summer Solstice, the light of the setting sun will shine will mark a line between the two stone circles.

The Barrows

On the western border of the Sinister Valley stands a pair of earthen mounds raised above a pair of graves. Nature has reclaimed the mounds to such a state that unless one knows where to look, the Barrows can be quite hard to find. Grass has grown back across the earth, bushes and brambles have sprung through the rise in the dirt. 

The Dolmen

In the southwestern reach of the Skylines Region stand a pair of Dolmen: megalithic stone tombs that appear much more ancient that the other ruins in the west. Psychonauts who venture into the tombs will find that the two tombs are connected by a series of catacombs. But though the dolmen are ancient, the catacombs beneath are not empty. 

The North Central and Northeastern Region of the Foglands

The Spine of Glass

There is a version of the Glass Tower in all of the major Realms of the Shadowlands: The Foglands, the City of Glass, Arcadia and the Painted labyrinth. In the Foglands the tower is a twisted tower of malformed Glass bursting forth from the land like a boil and stretching into the sky. The surface of the Spine seems to be composed of glass formed when lightning strikes beach sand, opaque and marred by imperfections and pock marked holes that bore deep into the surface.

The Poison Tree

The Poison Tree coils around the Spine of Glass like Jormungand round the world tree. The fruit of the poison tree is sought by psychonauts of all stripes.

The Cave of the Cryptkeeper

The cliff that separates plateau from lowlands also divides the Canyon, with the Hollow Mountain marking the line between North and South. If Psychonauts wish to access the North of the Canyon, they must pass through the Cave of the Cryptkeeper.

The Drowned City

Surrounded by the Circle of Rust stands a vast inland Salt Sea, under which sits the great Drowned City. inhabited by slavers and scavengers, Wendigo and wanderers, the Circle of Rust is one of the few areas that welcomes outsiders and psychonauts, in much the same way that a spider welcomes a fly.

The Grave of Brine

A vast stagnant Salt Sea dominates the landscape of the Northeastern portion of the Foglands. Ancient rust encrusted towers push up from the black surface of the water, salt crystals crawling up their metal skins. Beneath the waters lurks the drowned city, and the things that make their home within the sunken ruins.

The Drowned City

If crumbling Babylon City marks the remains of the Capital of the Hungry Empire, the Drowned City is the gravesite of the once great economic center of the Hungry Empire. The rusted spires of antique towers peak from the oil waters like monsters hunting for prey.

The Circle of Rust

Not all of what is now called the Drowned City was engulfed by the grave of Brine. Some of the structures still stand upon dry land, though layered in several strata of salt. Scavengers continue to pick at the remains of this urban husk and sell their wares at the Salt Market.

The Asylum

The Last King has the Dead Forest and the Iron Gallows with which to dispatch those who displease him. The Salt Market uses the Asylum; a decaying old building that perhaps once served as hospital or prison, but which has deteriorated so far that the truth will be lost forever. Half submerged in salt crusted shores, the Scavengers of the Salt Market lower those deemed guilty or just unlucky into the Asylum to die, go mad or devour each other as a horde watches from the roof and gamble on the outcome.

The Salt Market

Seedy and dangerous, the Salt Market is the best place in the Foglands to obtain secret knowledge and dangerous goods. Little more than a sprawling colony of tents and shanties scavenged from the corpse of the Drowned City, the Salt Market is nonetheless the living heart of the Plateau.

The Burning Lands

A strange Collection of buildings Stands on the northwestern shore of the Brine, The plants there are locked in withered states, and creatures there are distorted dark mirrors of their intended forms. The Three-petal Flower design marks signs and buildings all through the the Burning Lands, and those who tarry too long there fall ill and do not recover.

The Last Daytower

Anomolous amongst the rusting structures the make of the bulk of the Circle of Rust and the Drowned City, stands the last Daytower. Build of sandstone, the last Daytower is a thin cylinder with a domed parapet at the top. A Polished metal mirror is aimed to catch the dawn's first light at winter solstice.

Jawbone Ridge

Inhabitants of the Plateau insist that Jawbone ridge, with its white protruding outcroppings, is the actual jawbone of the great being whose ribs stand over Ribcage Castle. But while the ribcage is clearly the remains of some great being, the ridge is less clearly part of any corpse. But still, the wind whips across the ridge in strange ways and wanderers and psychonauts alike will hear strange voices whispered on the cutting cold winds at the edge of the plateau.

A Few Brief Descriptions of Foglands Landmarks

Location: Foglands, Northwest Plateau, Ribcage

The Ribcage Castle

A vast monolithic ribcage rests upon the Northwestern edge of the plateau. The inhabitants of the plateau have made guesses at the origin of the enormous bones, some ancient kaiju father or mother of the Giants is a popular theory. In any case, resting in the embrace of the enormous ribs is the moldering ruins of Ribcage Castle. The last resting place of the line of the Locust King, the castle is largely abandoned in the era of the Foglands, inhabited only by scavenging monsters a few loyal locust-touched and the Last King himself.

Babylon City

During the Ten Thousand Years of Darkness, the City of Glass extended nearly across all the arable land of the known world, the remaining Free Tribes pushed to to the edges and the margins and the miserable places to survive with the independence intact. In the era of the Foglands, this has changed and all that remains of the expansive devouring City of Glass is a scattering of scavengers and refugees huddling in the remains of the Capital: Babylon City.

The Empty Quarter

Babylon City contracted during the declining years of the Ten Thousands of Darkness, drawing in resources and focusing upon the survival and illusory prosperity of the Capital. The Nobility spoke about making the Capital glorious once more, returning it to a previous golden age. But in the end, the Nobles merely drained the surrounding areas in monstrous parasitic fashion. And while most of the Old City of Glass has fallen in to such disrepair that a traveler might not realize they walked through ruins at all, the Empty Quarter still stands in the shelter of the castle walls as testament to what once ruled the known world.

The Dead Forest

Nobody survives who knows if the lines of metal poles outside the walls of Ribcage Castle were once used for different purposes. They now stand as a means of displaying the perceived traitors whom the Last King has had executed and then stuck on these steel poles for all to see. Travelers are warned that any who pass too near the Ribcage risk running a foul of the King's entourage of loyalists and being branded a traitor, for torture and execution of 'traitors' is one of the few indulgences left to the rotting court of the Last King.

The Iron Gallows

Among the forest of iron spikes rising up before the walls of Ribcage Castle is an enormous metal structure now used by the surviving Nobles as a gallows. Likely used for something other than execution during the heyday of the City of Glass, the structure is now a place of execution, perhaps a sign of the fall of the Hungry Empire which feeds upon itself in the era of the Foglands. 

The Gates of Sorrow

Babylon City and the Empty Quarter sit within the walls of Ribcage Castle, as does the Castle Keep itself. Even during the era of the Foglands the walls still stand tall, when the Hungry Empire has disintegrated and the Locust forces have been scattered and turned to scavenging and cannibalism. The only way to enter within the wall of Ribcage Castle is to enter through the front door: an enormous colossal thing known now as the Gates of Sorrow.

Locations of the Foglands in more depth

After leaving the Ring for the first time, the Foglands are where rookie psychonauts will end up.

 

The Plateau

The lands to the North stand upon a great shelf, rising above the rest of the landscape.

The Ribcage

In the Northwest stands the ruins of Ribcage Castle and the remains of Babylon City.

• The Ribcage Castle
  • The Ribcage Castle
  • Babylon City
  • The Empty Quarter
• The Dead Forest
  • The Iron Gallows
  • The Gates of Sorrow

The Canyon

A canyon runs North to South, a vast scar across the horizon.

• The Ghost Station
  • Inbound Station
  • Outbound Station
• The Spine of Glass
  • The Spine of Glass
  • The Poison Tree
• The Cave of the Cryptkeeper
  • The Upper Cave

The Drowned City

Surrounded by the Circle of Rust stands a vast inland Salt Sea, under which sits the great Drowned City.

• The Grave of Brine
  • The Drowned City
• The Circle of Rust
  • The Asylum
  • The Salt Market
  • The Burning Lands
  • The Last Daytower
• Jawbone Ridge

The Lowlands

To the South are the lowlands.

The Skylines

Amidst a stretching rocky desert are carved strange designs in the earth visible the sky: the so-called Skylines.

• The Hart Stones
• The Western Ruins
  • The Broken Ruins
  • The Broke Stones
  • The Barrows
  • The Dolmen
• The Buried Maze
• The Sinister Valley
  • The City of Sleep
  • The Boar Temple

The Canyon

A canyon runs North to South, a vast scar across the horizon.

• The Hollow Mountain
• The Odd Cemetery
  • The Great Cemetery
  • The Mausoleum
  • The Old Cemetery
  • The Cave of the Cryptkeeper
    • The Lower Cave
• The Ghost Station
  • The Southern Station

The Wastelands

The vast marsh and the Altar Stone: a strange monument sacred to the Giants, fill the Wastelands of the Southeast.

• The Marsh Wastes
  • The Haypenny Camp
  • The Witch Hut
  • The Fading Lake
    • The Stilt Shrine
    • The Glass Altar
• The Altar Stone
  • The Altar Stone
  • The Thinking Stone
  • The Weeping Stone
  • The Screaming Stone
• The Womb
  • The Torii Gate
  • The Kiva Hole
  • The Womb
    • The Cave of Joining
    • The Hidden Passage
    • The Innermost Cave
    • The Cave of Unborn Elders
• The Eastern Reach
  • The Totems
  • The Sky Altar
• The Tailbone

Rough Bits of the Foglands again

After leaving the Ring for the first time, the Foglands are where rookie psychonauts will end up.

The Plateau

The lands to the North stand upon a great shelf, rising above the rest of the landscape.

The Ribcage

In the Northwest stands the ruins of Ribcage Castle and the remains of Babylon City.

The Canyon

A canyon runs North to South, a vast scar across the horizon.

The Drowned City

Surrounded by the Circle of Rust stands a vast inland Salt Sea, under which sits the great Drowned City.

---

The Lowlands

To the South are the lowlands.

The Skylines

Amidst a stretching rocky desert are carved strange designs in the earth visible the sky: the so-called Skylines.

The Canyon

A canyon runs North to South, a vast scar across the horizon.

The Wastelands

The vast marsh and the Altar Stone: a strange monument sacred to the Giants, fill the Wastelands of the Southeast.

A First look at the Map of the Foglands

Blood Red Radio Short: Childish Things

Once again I'm posting a little bit of a blood-red radio. Musings and rambling conversations I had. Much background noise probably poor audio. You have been warned.

Listen here.

Back up url below.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwwpqAOXF57ZXzYzSTVQVjNfTzQ/view?usp=drivesdk

First attempt at Blood Red Radio

This is my first attempt at blood-red radio. Recorded will walking my dog, so expect Street noises and occasional barkfest. I have not adjusted the audio anyway. So start with the volume a little lower left it Blow Your eardrums out.

Episode One

Back up url below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwwpqAOXF57Zb2NDeW9sZTVxcnc/view?usp=drivesdk

Sample Format for Individual Strongholds

An Introductory Look at the Green Peoples

Humble Allies in Arcadia and the City of Glass: vine and bulb, leaf and flower. Concrete cracks as life breaks through. The Peoples are the green tribes, and it is a foolish Psychonauts who does not respect the trees. For in the Shadowlands, the plants make known their preferences.

• The Five Clans
  •  The One Leaf People
  •  The Two Leaf People
  •  The Winter Leaf People
  •  The Water Green People
  •  The Blade Green People
•  The Stone Crack People
•  The Village Treaty People

An expanded look at the Fair Folk

The Greater Magi of the Shadowlands - also known as the Demons

The Fair Folk are the mythic beings that wear human forms: Sheedr and Faidr and Gnomon. They are the keepers of Magick and will be teachers and patrons to human sorcerers. Often mistaken for Gods, the difference is that Fair Folk need no worship or offerings. The Fair Folk will normally trade or barter for their favor or their instruction. The Fair Folk may appear most human like, but they are not human. Like the Elders they are sympathetic to humans in the Shadowlands. But also like the Elders, their minds are alien and they do not see things as humans do.

Deal with Devils and not with Gods.

For Devils will bargain for your soul, 

while Gods will demand it for free.

The Aelfen

These fair folk look noble but are treacherous. The fair folk come from the future and feed on the present. They can provide prophecy for a price.

Sheedr

The fair folk of the Dark. Beautiful, regal, treacherous and cold. Rumor says that they come from the future and feed upon the present.

The Darkened Court

Tales of the Magus of Dark Solstice are many. Tales of his Court are told in whisperers. There is more to this solstice than stockings and gifts.

• The Magus: The Wondermaker
• The Four
  • The Caretaker: The Lady of Icy Waters
  • The Messenger: The Blind Dark
  • The Mediator: The Wild Huntsman
  • The Scholar: The Cold Wind
• The Fortuneteller: The Keeper of the Seed

Faidr

The fair folk of the Waning, said to be of the future. They whisper that harvesting the present is necessary to keep wheel of time whole.

The Twilight Rebels

The Court that is not. Day and night imagine themselves as a dichotomy. The changing of light rebels against such clean labels.

• The Magus: The Purifier
• The Four
  • The Caretaker: The Sheltering Wind
  • The Messenger: The Guardian of the Gate
  • The Mediator: The Mountain Beast
  • The Scholar: The Ascetic
• The Fortuneteller: The Summer Storm

The Kobalen

The goblin folk look vile and scary but are just and kind. The goblin folk come from the past and give to the present. They will take messages to the past for a price.

Gobn

The fair folk of summer. They defend the present, sending aid from the past. It is said they can undo past mistakes.

The Midnight Court

They guard the night during its weakest point. The Solar Solstice is their great siege. They preserve the cycle for another year.

• The Magus: Walker of the Crossroads
• The Four
  • The Caretaker: The Hearthkeeper
  • The Messenger: The Cryptwalker
  • The Mediator: Child of the Rainbow
  • The Scholar: Watcher on the Wind
• The Fortuneteller: Lady of Grace

Bogn

The fair folk of the Waning. Shriveled, squat, ugly, joyous and friendly. Hailing from the past, feeding past to present to bring the harvest.

The Noonday Court

Bright, shining and glorious. One would never guess the nature of these splendid arch devils. Who knows what emerges from the cocoon?

• The Magus: The Splendid Peacock
• The Four
  • The Caretaker: The Walking Worm
  • The Messenger: The Resurrectionist
  • The Mediator: The Giver of Libations
  • The Scholar: The Lightbringer
• The Fortuneteller: The Remover of Obstacles

The Gnomon

The Gnomon are the Fair Folk of science present moment and of science. Xaokn are researchers. Saign are Educators. The Gnomon are always willing to help but tend to be oblivious to consequences and will help Locust forces just as readily.

Saign

The Gnomon of Education. Closely aligned with the modern mind. They help, but they help everyone, tribe and city alike.

The Bone Shrine Court

The Bone Shrine Court teaches insights from the Bonelands. Remember how large is the universe. Remember how small is the human skull.

• The Magus: The Sage of Motion
• The Four
  • The Caretaker: The Sage of Time
  • The Messenger: The Sage of Descent
  • The Mediator: The Sage of Radiation
  • The Scholar: The Sage of Orbits
• The Fortuneteller: The Safe of Lightning

Xaokn

Gnomon of science. The Xoakn are dedicated to research, But they provide their research to the Locust just as readily as to you.

The Bonewood Court

Hidden in the Bone Forest. The court whose magick peers into the Bonelands. Magick ends and Science begins when we seek to prove ourselves wrong.

• The Magus: Eldest Teacher
• The Four
  • The Caretaker: The Teacher in the Library
  • The Messenger: The Teacher in the Observatory
  • The Mediator: The Teacher in Miniature
  • The Scholar: The Teacher in the Garden
• The Fortuneteller: The Teacher in the Cage

Locust Touched Fair Folk

Not all of the Fair Folk retain their independence in the face of the spreading conquest of the Hungry Empire. As it devours everything, either assimilating or destroying whatever it encounters, many of the Fair Folk who once were are no more. And many more Fair Folk now hold forms unrecognizable to what they once were.

The Sold Ones

The Hungry Empire expands across the land, spewing new gods and conquering lands and Denizens, people and stories and mind, The Sold Ones are Fair Folk corrupted by the Locust.

• Wheat Goblin
• Rice Spriggan

The Broken

The Broken are the Fair Folk, beings who were once part of the great Courts, corrupted and twisted into incomprehensible forms by the corruption of the Grey and the Locust King.

• The Grey Locust
• Falsenight

The Court of Eternal Summer

The Conquered Court. The Demon Servants to the Locust. Magick caged like a songbird

The Court of Eternal Summer is the Captive Court of the Locust King. They celebrate The Whore's Holiday (Valentine's Day), The Chimney Sweeper's Rest (May Long Weekend), The Worker's Holiday (Labor Day), And Black Market Day (Nov 1). These holidays are commercial mockeries of Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain. They serve the Grey and Falsenight. They are the keeper of consumption and immortality and absolute right and wrong.

• The Magus: The Lord of Lords and Builder of Cities (The Broken Bird)
• The Four
  • The Caretaker: The Lady of The Bloody Fountain (The Martyred Mother)
  • The Messenger: The Lord of Extermination (The Caged Huntsman)
  • The Mediator: The Lady of Unification and Conquest (Captive Citizen)
  • The Scholar: The Oracle Skull of Knowledge (The Toy in the Glass Tower)
• The Fortuneteller: The Quintuple Lords of Misfortune (The Curse of Cities)

The Broken

The Hungry Empire expands across the land, spewing new gods and conquering lands and Denizens, people and stories and mind. The Broken are the Fair Folk, beings who were once part of the great Courts, corrupted and twisted into incomprehensible forms by the corruption of the Grey and the Locust King.

The Grey Locust

The Locust Spirit is not villainous alone, twisted by addiction and fear. A plague of hunger and paranoia devours those it does not convert. The Grey Locust is some bizarre gestalt form, a minor spirit empowered by one of the fear touched Elders, latched parasitically upon a nameless lost Magus of a long forgotten Demon Court. This strange legion of beings is what transformed the youngest of the Seven Siblings from the Archetype known as Lion, into the Archetype now known as the Locust King.

Falsenight

An oily smoky skeletal fossil powering dark ambition with stolen fuel. This is what powers the Hungry Empire's Expansion, a forgotten Fortuneteller from the same now nameless Demon Court that birthed what become the Grey Locust. To give his captured Demon the power he needed, the Locust King bonded this captured demon with corrupted flesh stolen from the Great Serpent. But Falsenight needs tribute to provide its power, and the tribute must be paid.

The Guides of the Fallen

The Psychopomp, the Guide of the Fallen is a feature of practically human cultures. Fear of death and fear of the unknown combine in human mind and causes storytellers to allay the fears of their brethern by conjuring guides and protectors of the dead. In the Shadowlands, the Guides of the Fallen oversee travel between the Realms of the Shadowlands, and it only through their intervention that psychonauts may reach the Realms of Light and endeavor to reclaim a soul they may have foolishly lost to some avaricious god.

The Little Green Man

The great instructor and the regenerator. Death is the source of all life in Arcadia. Don't fear the reaper.

The Rainbow Moth

The rainbow is used by so many cultures to symbolize transportation and tramsission of messages. The Rainbow Moth beats wings made of iridescent light as it glistens through the dark caverns of the Painted Labyrinth

The Fear Touched

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. - HP Lovecraft

Pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of danger are the two primary drivers of living beings: desire and fear.

Void and Fire

Man of Void and Lady of Fire

The Man of Void and the Lady of Fire walk the circle of time and vastness of space. They share a human shape and are sympathetic to sentient beings. Their minds are alien, and yet quite familiar. The most disquieting of the Elders for their similarity to humanity while never quite getting it right.

The Hound

The Grey is fear from which springs paranoia and the need for control. The Hound is fear from which springs panic. The Hound is inescapable, an event horizon as implacable hunter. Face your fear or be devoured.

The Grey

Fear is inescapable. Fear is inevitable. Heroes use fear as their sword and shield, as their drive and fuel. But some use fear as a cage within which they capture everyone, including themselves. In the hopes of total control, the Grey inspires the Locust King to cage and devour the world.

The Living Four

The four 'younger' elders- no older than life itself.

The Survivor

That Which Survives

Older than the dead gods of the Glass City, The Elders exist without the worship of humans. That Which Survives is the essence of endurance and perseverance. This archdemon is what taught the first tribe the art of survival, just as the Pale Shepherd taught adaptation.

The Shepherd

The Pale Shepherd

Progress is an illusion. There is only change. Progress is a story we tell ourselves to keep ourselves sane. The walking worms shrouded in the pale cloak leads the midwives that tear change- stillborn- into the world.

The Sleeper

The Sleeping Beast

There are secrets, sleeping, in the deep. There are pieces of knowledge that torture the mind. Progress drives us beyond our safe illusions. The Bonelands shatter the mind, and the Sleeping Beast is an elder who opens the eye to the Bonelands.

The Primal

The Primal One

Life is an aberration. An anomaly in the vast cold blackness of an expanding universe, life is a tiny flickering light. The Primal One is the candle that feeds that hollow light in the darkness.

The Three Unknowable

The Three Unknowable are the three of the Elders most sympathetic to the Free Peoples.

Mystery

The Firebird is the Phoenix, and MYSTERY. The Firebird is the fire that inspires the story. It is the Shadowlands and more, born with the first breath of every "once upon a time", and dying with every "The End'. The Firebird sits just outside of understanding, pushing back the mystery just deepens it.

The Great Serpent

The source of all ambition and drive. The root of the heroic instinct, and the fire that burns within the heart of every legend. The Great Serpent echoes in the stories of Quetzecoatl and the Rainbow Serpent.

The Weaver

The spirit of the story, the teller of tales, keeper of the narrative, the great weaver. The Weaver is the guide to First Mother and the source of much of her annoyance. Inscrutable and wrapped in schemes and tricks. The Weaver is an ally to the story, but serves nobody.

The Sold Ones

The Hungry Empire expands across the land, spewing new gods and conquering lands and denizens, people and stories and mind, The Sold Ones are Fair Folk corrupted by the Locust.
 
The Wheat Goblin
(A Corrupted Gobn)

A small yellow goblin with a beard of wheat stalks and huge long floppy ears that look like leaves on a stalk of wheat. It can shapeshift but will always have a long braided beard or braided hair and it will always have it's ears. It tries to sell or offer freely wheat cakes that, if eaten, will render the victim unable to survive on anything but the wheat cakes or (just barely alive) on normal wheat products. Easy to fight and kill, they are not warriors.

But the wheat cakes will give temporary strength and speed to the Wheat Goblin itself and others who eat it. Foolish warriors will occasionally become willingly addicted to the wheat cakes.

The Rice Spriggan
(A Corrupted Bogn)

An amorphous spirit that lives in any stagnant water, but especially loves rice padi water. It can form a body out of the muck and vegetation and fish bones in it's home to fight if it needs or wants to do so. However, it's preference is to use fish teeth and bones to cut curse sigils onto the exposed feet and ankles of people who tread in the padi water.

The sigils render the victim week against cholera and malaria and Typhus spirits that will attack the victim every night for weeks (depending on the strength drawn for the curse and the strength drawn for the spirit itself). A Rice Spriggan can only be destroyed by draining it's watery home or purifying the water.

An Introductory Look at the Wild Folk

The other Tribes of Arcadia, wearing fur and scale and Feather. The Folk know the Locust by his scorn. The psychonaut would do well to remember that the fox and game fowl are his friends. The whale and wolf are her sisters. The rabbit and the rat are his aunt and uncle.

The wild folk are you neighbours and rivals as you explore the Shadowlands, they are your foes and friends, they are your trading partners and the hated raiders in the night.

• The Seven Clans
  •  The Free Folk
  •  The Cold Folk
  •  The Silent Folk
  •  The Wise Folk
  •  The Swift Folk
  •  The Gentle Folk
  •  The New Folk
•  The Sea Folk
  •  The Old Folk
  •  The Constant Folk
  •  The Strong Folk
  •  The Clever Folk
  •  The Singing Folk
  •  The Dancing Folk
  •  The Ghost Folk

The Mirrors in the Sky

The Glass City is the land of the Locust King, his false utopia that hovers- a castle city in the sky.

The Wards of The City of Mirrors

The City of Mirrors is modelled after the city of old London and Prague and Paris. The place has a glamour of shining crystal towers and skycastles. Beneath the Glamour is smog filled, ash stained, dirty old Londontown from the tales of Charles Dickens. A Grimdark Gaslamp Fantasy world. The City of Mirrors is composed of Wards built from the corpses and sacrifice of the Dead Gods after whom they are named.

• The Ward of Gildguld (God of Tax Collectors- The Merchant District)
• The Ward of Mitchuas (The Son of Ash- The Church District)
• The Ward of Gaibrus (The Birdgod of the Dawn- The Palace District)
• The Ward of Zeudin Vashas (The Six Faced Lord of Thunder- The Court District
• The Ward of Lamris (The God of Obedience and the Underworld- Graveyard District)
• The Ward of Friedites (The Goddess of Sin and Purity- The Red light District)
• The Ward of Valstaris (The Goddess of Love and war- The Barracks District)
• The Ward of Xerfer  (The Goddess of Jealousy and Greed- The Guild District)

An Introductory look at the Gods

The Bankers of Vajra and Souls

Gods are composite beings. Incorporeal as Spirits, derived from concepts as Elders, and bearing anthropomorphic avatars as Fair Folk; Gods have one unifying factor. Gods require human belief, human prayer, sacrifice and offerings. Gods are empty vessels that cannot generate any power of their own. They are bankers or insurance brokers, absorbing the Vajra and Souls offered them from a multitude of worshipers and giving back some small measure to the occasional worshiper as a miracle.

Gods can be a source of great power, but the cost is high. And it is difficult for a Freepath Sorcerer to use the power of the gods without breaking the first of the four great laws and worshiping that god.

• The Dead Gods